Tag Archives: dinner

One of the things that is making me feel fantastic is my current obsession with Pork Bone Broth! I’ve been making it for about five or six weeks now and I think I’ve officially become an addict. (and also perfected my method!)I drink 500ml of it every morning before breakfast and I’m starting to see and feel real benefits.

First off, the mental reward is very important to me. It actually feels like a big cheat to get to drink it every day because it tastes so decadent that my mind is tricked into thinking it’s a treat. It’s also mentally empowering to know that I’m consuming something that is so good for me and completely pure. I use organic, pork bones from my ethical butcher, so I know I’m getting good wholesome nutrients. When I drink it, I visualize my body’s cells celebrating and becoming stronger and healthier. That might sound stupid… but visualization is actually scientifically proven… I think… or whatever 😉

The second reward is that my hair, skin and nails are incredibly healthy right now. My nails are growing strong and like wild fire and are not splitting at the sides like they normally do. My hair is springy and strong and also growing like wildfire and the most incredible part of all, which I am attributing to the bone broth… my hairline is changing! I have a bit of a receding hair line shape and I’ve always hated it… Just yesterday I noticed that in the two receding parts on either side of my bangs, there’s thick new growth. It’s about an inch long already and already thick enough to change the shape of my hairline to a more attractive (to me) shape.

Maybe my healthy hair growth can be attributed to the bone broth or maybe to my generally healthy state right now… I really want to give that point to the bones tho!

Here’s my ‘recipe’ for bone broth if you want to try it yourself!

3 pounds of high quality pork bones and one or two trotters (called ‘hoofies’ in my house)

3 carrots, roughly chopped

½ a bunch of celery, roughly chopped (I just chop the entire thing about halfway down from the top so I get the leaves and greener parts and then I compost the rest because I think celery is disgusting!)

1 med/large yellow onion, roughly chopped (skin removed)

6-8 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped or smashed

2-3 bay leaves

2 dried chili peppers

1 bunch parsley. You can either chop it or just lay it in there like a nice bed for your hoofies

1 bunch thyme

Handful of peppercorns

An amount of salt… I put a generous amount in…. it’s up to you. You can always add more when you consume it.

2-4 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar (I don’t’ measure, I just dump some in).

Layer all your ingredients in a large crockpot and then fill with water* to cover.Put the lid on that puppy and set it to your low setting. Mine is 10 hours. I reset it a couple times and cook it for about 24 hours.

When it’s done (or you’ve reached your level of patience), strain it through a fine sieve and then place into canning jars. If you want to freeze it, put it in 500ml mason jars with 1” of room left over. Pop into the freezer and let it freeze before you put the lids on. This makes six 500ml mason jars of broth which keep in the fridge for… you guessed it, six days!

*Now… If you’re going to make broth every week like I do, and you are a stingy old miser like me and also want to get the MOST nutrients out of your bones and broth, you can do what the French call Remouillage (which will replace the water for every subsequent bone broth endeavor you make) Basically Remouillage is a fancy word for ‘second batch’ and here’s how it works.

Strain out your amazingly flavorful broth as above and then instead of throwing out the cooked bones and veg, fill the crock back up with water and set to low again for 10-18 (or longer) hours. When that’s done, strain through a fine mesh sieve, let it cool and then freeze it. Next week when you’re ready to make another fresh batch of broth with a fresh batch of bones, defrost your Remouillage and use that liquid in place of the water. Basically you’re going to make your bone broth with bone broth, which is much more nutrient dense (and flavorful) than water.

Remouillage makes me feel like I’ve eeked out every last bit of nutrient from those bones and am making sure the broth I spend valuable time making every week is going to be as healthy and nutrient rich as possible. (and really, it’s no more work to run the crockpot the second time…

So there you have it… a recipe for Pork Bone Broth (which you can do with any other high quality bones as well) that will make you healthy, happy and with a beautifully shaped hairline!

I’ve been quite under the weather lately… Went from running a personal best 5K with my beautiful sister to almost being unable to hold my head up all day and passing out on the bus/in meetings… I’ve not exercised in a week and a half and it’s mentally starting to get to me… I’m hoping to go for a walk after work tonight… slow and not very far is fine by me but I need some freakin’ fresh air.

The one thing that has not suffered while I’ve been feeling unwell is my appetite, thank goodness! While my sister and I were trying to rule possible causes of this either in or out, she was asking me if I was craving shit food, salty food etc…. thankfully no, I’m quite happy with my Whole30 choices and my standard fare…but sometimes you just want some ‘comfort food’.

The two new things that I am completely obsessed with right now are what I like to call Warm Turkey Coleslaw and Deconstructed Reuben. One is my own invention and one is a knock off from Well Fed 2’s Reuben Rollups. Both are VERY easy to make and require very little effort, which is great for me right now…

First up, let’s talk Coleslaw… it’s one of my FAVORITE salads of all time! When I did my first Whole30 last February, I gave up ‘sauce’ and ‘dressing’ because I wasn’t very culinarily (word?) inclined and making dressings and sauces seemed out of reach… so I ate a lot of ‘dry’ food… that meant that things that were on the menu previous, such as coleslaw were disallowed because there is no commercial coleslaw dressing that doesn’t involve at least sugar and vegetable oil…

After a year of making everything I eat and becoming significantly MORE culinarily inclined, I ventured into the world of sauces and the amazingness that is Paleo Mayo! Home made mayo… kid you not, it’s good enough to eat right out of the jar off a spoon… forget everything you THINK mayo is and go ahead and make yourself some… you won’t regret it.

So! Now that I had Mayo back, I could have things like coleslaw, right?

Okay well, me being me, I like to have ‘one bowl’ meals… everything in the same bowl, all mixed together, covered in ‘sauce’ and eaten with a spoon. Yes, it’s kind of weird but to each their own.

So enter Warm Turkey Coleslaw. Salad, protein and warm… score!

Basically, during your weekly cookup, you’re going to cook a pound or so of ground turkey… add a ton of sage and thyme and a bit of salt and cook through. You’ll also shred a few beets and slice up some cabbage. (I cut the cabbage in half and then slice the half rounds into long ‘noodles’. You could also shred this like real coleslaw and it would be just as good).

When you’re ready for dinner, heat some coconut oil in a pan, toss in a few handfuls of cabbage… be generous, it cooks down. When it’s almost cooked to your liking (shiny and a nice bright green color), add in some shredded beets and mix all together. Then throw in your serving of the precooked ground turkey and let it all warm together.

Pile in a big bowl and then put a generous scoop of home made mayo on top. Mix it all together and put a bit of salt and pepper on top. Warm Turkey Coleslaw. It’s amazing… just try it! I’ve done this with left over cooked chicken thighs and when I ran out of meat, I made an opening in the middle of the pan and cracked a couple eggs into the middle… cook until the yolk is runny and the white is done and then squash it all together with the mayo in the bowl… also amazing!

The other really easy, really yummy thing I’ve been having is Deconstructed Reuben Sandwiches. Basically just pile some pastrami or corned beef (good luck finding sugar free if you’re Whole30… I waited till I was officially done W30 to eat this because my Pastrami has a touch of added dextrose) on a plate. Beside it pile some wine-free sauerkraut and then put a big dollop of home made mayo and a big dollop of wine free/sugar free grainy mustard. You can be fancy and put the sauerkraut and sauce on the slice of meat and then roll it up if you’re inclined… that makes it look a bit nicer but I’m a smidge lazy lately. The Reuben Rollup from Wellfed 2, which is where I got the idea suggests that you make a Russian Dressing (basically the home made mayo mixed with Kickass Ketchup) and use that as the sauce. I’m sure it’s amazing but I’ve not made the ketchup yet so mayo and mustard it’s been and it’s pretty dang delicious!

I eat the same thing for breakfast and lunch every day during the week, so it was relatively simple to figure out how much I was spending. I’ve rounded some of the costs up so that the budget I make from this takes into account inflation over the next few months and if some things increase in price. For instance, I think the Romaine hearts are a 6pk for $5.49 but I’ve rounded it up to $6.

Breakfast in the weekday mornings consists of shredded sautéed Brussels sprouts and par steamed broccoli, topped with a homemade breakfast sausage and a semi fried egg, along with ¼ of an avocado.

I’ve started using local ground game instead of the standard ground pork/turkey from Costco. The sausages taste better (Buffalo is so good!) but it might turn out to be one of the places I can cut my spending.

I made Buffalo Breakfast Sausage this week and my 500g of ground meat ($9) made 6 patties.

The eggs I buy are $7.99 for 18, so each egg works out to be 44cents.

5 Avocado from Costco are normally $5.99 but last week I got them for $4.99, so the ¼ I ate for breakfast weighs in at a whopping 25cents. Since they’re not normally on sale, I’ll calculate the ¼ using the regular price.

I use a half a bag of broccoli ($5/bag) and a half a bag of Brussels sprouts ($4) and divide the total of that into 5 meals. That makes the Broccoli portion 50cents and the Brussels portion 40cents.

For Lunch every day I have one romaine heart (6pk for $6) topped with 3 baked chicken thighs, a handful of cherry tomatoes, 1/5 a jar of homemade Caesar salad dressing and ¼ of an Avocado. Sometimes I have ½ a grapefruit with it.

The chicken thighs are from Costco and come about 26 to a package for about $22. The Caesar Salad dressing costs me $3.25 to make and it lasts for a whole week. The tomatoes come in a small clamshell for $4.49 and the Avocado is another ¼ from the daily Avocado that comes 5 to a bag for $5.99. The grapefruit come 9 to a bag for $8.99… they’re HUGE!

Breakfast Summary:

1 Sausage $1.50

1 Egg $0.44

¼ Avocado $0.30

Broccoli Sauté $0.50

Brussels Sauté $0.40

Total Breakfast $3.14

I think if I switched back to ground turkey or ground pork from Costco I could probably save about $0.75 per patty… I don’t know if it’s worth it to switch from grass fed organic ground game to Costco portions of ground meat for a savings of $0.75 a meal.

I don’t know what a standard Paleo Breakfast is supposed to cost though…

Lunch Summary:

1 romaine heart $1

3 chicken thighs $2.53

1/5 jar of Caesar Salad Dressing $0.65

1/5 Clamshell of Cherry Tomatoes $0.89

¼ Avocado $0.30

½ Grapefruit $0.50

Total Lunch $5.87

There are a couple ways I could cut back for lunch. I currently buy the Romaine hearts but I can buy one pound of mixed spring greens that lasts a week for about $3.49. I could also buy less expensive cherry tomatoes (I buy the heirloom multi-colored ones) and hopefully when this produce comes into season at the local farmer market I can really save some money. I think I could also buy oranges or a different type of fruit that might come out to less than $0.50 per serving. Again, I don’t know what a standard lunch costs. It would be reasonable to compare this salad to the Whole Foods salad I used to buy that was essentially the same thing (although with the addition of unapproved cheese, dried cranberries and really nasty (but so tasty!) dressing. Those calculated out to approximately $12-13 per serving and I didn’t get avocado, tomatoes or a grapefruit at that price.

My breakfast and lunch combined daily total is $9.01.

It’ll take me a little longer to figure out the dinner calculation because I make something different each week and there’s usually enough for dinners and then some to freeze, along with a lion’s share of vegetables. I will also have to factor in the can of coconut milk I use per week which is $2.69, and then I’m not sure how I’m going to cost out tea and sparkling water. I hope with everything included I can come in well under $100 for the full 7 days (weekends will be less expensive because I don’t seem to eat as much).

I’d be interested in any thoughts or comments about the general cost of Paleo meals, or ways in which I can make this way of eating less expensive. If I can’t, that’s one outcome of this exercise and I’m okay with that too! Thoughts?

I like to make a ‘dinner’ item on Sunday night that I can then heat up and eat with freshly roasted or steamed veg for the weekday evenings. Before I started my W30 endeavor in February, I wasn’t much of a cook. It was even worse if you went back to this time last year when I would happily eat Cinnamon Toast Crunch or a bagel and cheddar cheese for dinner. I bought my lunch almost every day, which was stressful and annoying, not to mention incredibly expensive. Fast forward to now and I personally cook from scratch everything I eat. I mentioned the other day to a friend that I should stop referring to myself as a bad cook because I’ve actually gotten quite good!

I have a pretty hard and fast rule about cooking and that is that I generally don’t make things that have more than ten ingredients. Now, those ten don’t include salt and pepper, but usually I don’t even come close to the upper limit of ten, so my cooking is pretty fresh and pretty easy! I also usually only cook things that I know I can make a big batch of for left overs so that cooking during the week is a pretty uneventful ordeal.

To get inspiration for my meals, I usually go online and look at a few recipes of what I want to make and then make up my own version. I find that internet recipes are usually not seasoned the way that I like them, so when I write recipes, I expect people to take the seasonings as a guideline and often I don’t put in measurements.

That said, I’m going to share the delicious Chicken Curry that I made on Sunday.

10-12 boneless,skinless chicken thighs

1 large can of diced tomatoes (check to ensure W30… dang sugar is in everything!)

1 large onion, diced

2 tbsp diced garlic (or whatever suits your taste)

1-2” of a piece of fresh ginger, grated

2-3 large handfuls of broccoli florets

1 can of coconut milk

Ground yellow curry powder

Ground cumin

Salt and Pepper

Cover a large plate with a layer of curry powder, cumin and S&P

Coat both sides of each chicken thigh in spices.

Heat oil of choice in a non-teflon pan (I used coconut… went well with the dish but you can use EVOO) and then panfry thighs on both sides until cooked and juices run clear.

Remove chicken from pan.

Before deglazing, add ginger, garlic and chopped onion and sauté for a few minutes.

Next, add the can of diced tomatoes and the handfuls of broccoli and put the lid on. The liquid from the tomatoes will deglaze your pan and give your sauce a lovely flavor.

While the broccoli is cooking, empty your can of coconut milk into a bowl and add in additional curry powder (I like my sauce very curry-y so I added 2-3 tbsp)

When the broccoli is cooked to your liking, add the coconut/curry mixture and cook for a few minutes.

I put this into containers in the fridge and when I’m ready for dinner, I roast some extra broccoli and throw some butternut squash into the pan with the heating chicken and sauce and then serve it all over the broccoli with some cubed cold avocado.